Many still photographic camera systems have mechanisms to permit the printing of time and date information directly onto a frame of photographic film when the film is exposed to take a picture. More recently, still photographic camera systems have been proposed that permit other information, such as messages, to be recorded on the photographic film in addition to the traditional time and date information. U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,366, for example, discloses a message receiving data back for a camera in which message information, received through radio pager receiver, is displayed on a display and can be subsequently printed on photographic film loaded in the camera by a data placing device. In this system, however, it is not possible for the camera user to directly enter a message to be printed on the photographic film.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a camera system that incorporates a user friendly interface to enable a camera user to enter text data to be printed on a photographic film in a simple and convenient manner. It is a further object of the invention to enable the user to receive information regarding the operating state of the camera through the interface.